The Quartz Winglet
by Nochtli
Summary: This is a pointless story made solely to relieve my writer's block, and includes characters from many of my unpublished stories. Your satisfaction is not guaranteed as we follow Gila the Sandwing's adventures at Jade Mountain Academy. However, a wide cast of characters and canonical accuracy are featured. Rated T for possible future shenanigans.
1. Chapter 1

Gila was panting, beating his wings hard and struggling against the cold wind. The sky felt heavy and choked with humidity, as if it were about to spill out onto the world and suffocate it. He was starting to regret all the snacks he'd brought.

His sister, Garter, was just a venom-tipped tail length ahead. She was struggling with an odd lumpy bag of scrolls, but she was getting on a lot better than Gila. The two were flanked by the graceful, curling forms of their parents, Chuckwalla and Coachwhip.

The terrain below them had transformed from pink mesas and beige scrublands to steep, reddish columns of rock, interspersed with fresh green patches of conifers. The sun had been muffled by the thick clouds, and the light it cast was almost like a pink candle, making the trees even greener and the rocks even redder. The scenery looked glorious, although it was a bit stuffy to fly through. The hazy outline of Jade Mountain loomed a few miles ahead, obscured by distant streaks of rain.

"You guys think it'll stop raining by the time we get there?" Gila asked.

"Eh, it shouldn't matter much either way. We'll be spending the whole time in a cave," Coachwhip said absent-mindedly. "Of course, we'll have to keep Garter's scrolls safe on our way there."

"I'm betting it'll be raining," Chuckwalla answered. "It's too muggy out for it to quit."

"Right. Of course, it might not even be raining on Jade Mountain, it's too far away to tell." Gila pointed out. Garter shrugged, probably indicating a lack of opinion on the matter.

The group flew on in silence, their formation gradually reversing order so that Gila and Garter were side by side. The land below shifted to rocky, tree-laden slopes, and thunder rumbled on the horizon. Rain started pounding their wings, forcing Garter to awkwardly shove her bags under her chest, and it became harder and harder to _breathe_ , let alone fly, as they gained altitude. The shape of the mountain peak was lost to the rain, and it was hard to tell where they were going. Gila was immensely relieved when his mother pointed out the caves.

"Oh, look! I think I see the entrance to the Academy!" Coachwhip said, peering through the haze of rain. If Gila looked closely, he could make out a small clearing, fringed by bright yellow lanterns. If not for those, the school would be impossible to find in this weather.

They spiraled slowly downwards, and Gila skidded to a halt in the mud and threw his sore wings over his head, breathing heavily. "Oh, the ground! I missed you so much!" He said, squishing blobs of mud in his talons. His legs still felt shaky from flying so far, and so he started pacing in circles, trying to return the feeling to his limbs. One end of the clearing gave way into a huge hole, several wingspans wide, the quiet din of conversing dragons pouring out of it.

His sister curled her wings protectively over her scroll bundle, a look of dismay on her face. "Oh, I hope they survived this," she muttered, her bespectacled snout nudging them anxiously.

"I bet they did," Gila said. "I mean, that bag's at least a _little_ waterproof, isn't it? They should be fine. You know, I don't think I've ever been this wet in my life. This is a totally new experience! Isn't it awesome?" Gila said, spreading his wings to feel the full force of the storm again.

"Yeah, it's awesome. If you're a Mudwing, that is," Chuckwalla landed next to Gila, wrinkling his snout teasingly.

Coachwhip landed on his other side, shaking the water from her scales, only to get drenched again within seconds. "Oh, come now, we don't have time for jokes! Let's go in now, we're probably late." She swept all three of them into the cave entrance, which had a lantern on either side and a painted sign welcoming them to Jade Mountain Academy with cheerful shades of red and orange.


	2. Chapter 2

Compared to the quiet gloom outside, the entrance cave was warm, golden, and positively _bursting_ with activity. Colored balls of spun glass were hung on wires criss-crossing the length of the cave, candles burning within so they cast cheery colors over the brown stone walls. Thousands of stalagmites and stalactites cascaded around the edges of the cavern, some of them rising to form columns and spires. A huge bronze gong engraved with the silhouettes of two flying dragons hung on the back wall, and a huge vine banner swayed from the rocks above it, reading "Welcome, students!" in pink and yellow flowers. A pair of gaping tunnels lay on opposite sides of the cavern.

Dragons of innumerable shapes and colors bustled through the cave, talons clicking on the floor- some chatting idly, others waving goodbye or greeting friends, many of them carrying prey or scrolls. The quiet buzz of chatter was prominent, but not overwhelming.

Gila splashed through the puddles around the exit, wiped his muddy talons on the floor, and looked curiously around as his parents came in.

"Well, this is certainly quite a happy atmosphere, considering we're in a cave," Coachwhip said, impressed. "Hey, you!" she called, waving toward a black dragonet with a bag of scrolls.

"Yes- oh! Sorry, just telling this student where her cave is-" The Nightwing answered, turning back toward a golden brown Sandwing adorned in copious amounts of jewelry. The Sandwing snatched her scrolls out of the Nightwing's talons and swept into the second cave on the right.

"Oh well, no need to deal with _that_ one anymore," she muttered, stepping over to their group. Gila saw that she had silver scales in the corners of her eyes, and even more intriguingly, a band of silver spots around one wrist, as if she was wearing the night sky as a bracelet. She marched right over to Gila, grinning, and shuffling through her scrolls.

"Let me guess- you're... Gila, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's me," Gila mumbled, taking the scrolls she held out. "How'd you guess?"

"Oh, I'm just good at guessing," the Nightwing said. "Almost _suspiciously_ good at it... Of course, it's not like I'm _reading your mind_ , or anything. Definitely not. Anyway, my name is Fatespeaker. I'm not a teacher, just a school helper, but you can contact me if you have any questions."

"Okay, then," Gila said. "Where's my sleeping cave?"

"Oh, take the second tunnel on the left, last cave on the left. It should be labeled 'Quartz Winglet #3'." Fatespeaker turned to go talk to Garter, and Gila began repeating her directions in his head a few times so he wouldn't forget, staring around at all the strange scale colors.

When Garter had taken her scrolls, Chuckwalla and Coachwhip turned toward them again. "You two should go find your caves and meet your roommates," Chuckwalla said. "We'd go home now, but we'd rather wait out the storm first," he added.

Coachwhip brushed Chuckwalla's wings with hers. "Yes, we might as well go and speak to the teachers while we're here," she said. "We'll meet you back here later, okay?"

"Alright," Garter agreed, a twinge of nervousness in her voice.

Gila nodded. "Okay, then. I'll check back here in an hour, I'll see you then!" He said, and went into the second tunnel on the left, with Garter close behind him. This tunnel was an endless curve, like a slithery, skipping sidewinder snake, curving subtly downward. Garter went into a cave with a sign that marked it as the first cave of the Silver Winglet, leaving Gila to find his room alone.

After a few minutes, he found the cave that Fatespeaker had directed him to. It had a small crevice of a doorway, and Gila had to fold his wings to get in, but the cavern beyond was nice and spacious. It was a long, narrow space that could fit about four dragons standing talons to tail tip, and had an especially high concentration of stalagmites and stalactites at the end of it. They formed several pillars that were almost like cage bars, with a single gap large enough to walk through, providing a rather sheltered space.

Gila went over to the end of the cave to take a look, and to his surprise, saw a deep cobalt blue Seawing already curled up on the soft green cushion. "Oh! Sorry, didn't see you there," Gila said, startled. "I was just checking out the room."

The Seawing sat up, putting down the scrolls he'd been looking at. "No problem, I didn't hear you come in. So, you're my new roommate?" He spoke calmly, but his sky blue eyes flickered toward Gila's barbed tail for a split second. The dragonet quickly forced his gaze back to his scroll, as if worried he'd be seen as rude for staring.

"Yeah, I guess so. Since we'll be sharing a cave for the rest of the school year, hopefully we get along, right? I'm Gila." He extended a talon and smiled hopefully.

The Seawing shook it. "I'm Mako. It's, uh, a pleasure to meet you, I guess. I think your bed is over there." He pointed through the rocks, at a large round indentation in the wall. It was fringed by a few small, spiny stalactites, and a nice woven mat laynon the flat bottom. It looked like the beginning of a new tunnel, but it was only deep enough to be a comfortable resting spot for a large dragonet.

Gila backed away from Mako, and hopped onto his new bed. _He seems a bit boring,_ he though to himself, _but he'll probably warm up as we get more used to this._

He decided to study the scrolls Fatespeaker had given him. The top scroll was an enthusiastic welcome from the founders, which read as follows:

 **Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy!**

At this school, you will be learning side by side with dragons from all the other tribes, so we wanted to give you some basic information that may be useful as you get to know one another.

You have been assigned to a winglet with six other dragons; the winglet groups are listed on the following page.

Thank you for being a part of this school. You are the hope of Pyrrhia's future. You are the dragons who can bring lasting peace to the world.

Gila shifted the scrolls around until he found the page with winglets.

 **Jade Winglet**

Icewing: Sleet

Mudwing: Coot

Nightwing: Honor

Rainwing: Ferdelance

Sandwing: Cholla

Seawing: Cod

Skywing: Saffron

 **Gold Winglet**

Icewing: Frigid

Mudwing: Skink

Nightwing: Quickclaws

Rainwing: Marmoset

Sandwing: Javelina

Seawing: Sunfish

Skywing: Smoke

 **Silver Winglet**

Icewing: Bear

Mudwing: Sepia

Nightwing: Observer

Rainwing: Python

Sandwing: Garter

Seawing: Flounder

Skywing: Goshawk

 **Copper Winglet**

Icewing: Vole

Mudwing: Mire

Nightwing: Reader

Rainwing: Lacewing

Sandwing: Plateau

Seawing: Pelican

Skywing: Crimson

 **Quartz Winglet**

Icewing: Caribou

Mudwing: Osprey

Nightwing: Ferocity

Rainwing: Anole

Sandwing: Gila

Seawing: Mako

Skywing: Cinder

Among the scrolls, he also found a schedule and a map of the academy, which had labels for important features, like dead ends, bat roosts, underground lakes, patches of toxic gas, and unstable areas that could cave in. _Yes, a cave system is definitely not the safest place to put a school_ , he thought to himself. _Still, as cave systems go, this one is pretty great._


End file.
